USAID Cover-Up!
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USAID Cover-Up!

Judicial Watch Warns Utah to Provide Access to Voter Registration
Lists

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We sent a letter
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to Lt. Governor Deidre M. Henderson, notifying her that Utah is
currently in violation of the federal National Voter Registration Act
of 1993
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(NVRA) public disclosure requirements. The notice letter warns of a
lawsuit after 90 days if the issues are not resolved.

We explain that the NVRA was intended both to “increase the number
of eligible citizens who register” and “to protect the integrity
of the electoral process’ and ‘ensure that accurate and current
voter registration rolls are maintained.” It requires states to
maintain “for at least 2 years” and “make available for public
inspection” all records concerning the implementation of programs
conducted for ensuring the accuracy of voter rolls.

Our review of Utah voter registration law
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found it
fails to ensure compliance with federal “record maintenance and
public disclosure requirements” and limits the public’s ability to
conduct reasonable election integrity analysis. “This absence of
necessary provisions in Utah’s voter registration law directly
contravenes the federal mandate under the NVRA.”

In July 2022, we settled
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a
federal election integrity lawsuit against the Illinois State Board of
Elections, requiring it to grant access to its centralized statewide
list of registered voters. State officials had refused to allow the
nonprofit Illinois Conservative Union and three lawfully registered
Illinois voters to obtain a copy of the state’s voter registration
list, despite their lawful request for those records under federal
law.

In short, Utah law makes it impossible – and even illegal – to use
voter registration lists to monitor for fraud and accuracy. This is at
odds with federal law and undermines election integrity.

As several federal courts have recognized, the public records
provisions of the National Voter Registration Act were intended to
enhance the ability of private groups to monitor whether states are
removing ineligible voters from their voter rolls. In April 2020, a
federal court in Maryland noted
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that organizations “such as Judicial Watch” have “the resources
and expertise that few individuals can marshal. By excluding these
organizations from access to voter registration lists,” the purpose
of the federal law is undermined. That court ordered Maryland to
produce complete voter registration records we requested.

In recent years, Judicial Watch has caused the removal of four million
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names from the voter rolls.

USAID WON’T REVEAL AID RECIPIENTS IN GAZA

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has
been much in the news lately as Elon Musk uncovers its secrets.
We’ve been investigating it for a long time.

It continues to hide the identities of recipients of $27 million in
grants awarded to “Miscellaneous Foreign Awardees” that were
designated for use in Gaza and that we have been seeking.

A status conference on our lawsuit is scheduled
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for today before Judge Reggie B. Walton of U.S. District Court of the
District of Columbia.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas—a U.S.-designated terrorist
organization—invaded southwest Israel
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killing over a thousand people and kidnapping hundreds of others.

We sued
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in July 2024
after the USAID failed to respond to an April 2, 2024, Freedom Of
Information Act (FOIA) request (_Judicial Watch v. U.S. Agency for
International Development_
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(No. 1:24-cv-02159)) that asks for:

* All records identifying the recipients of USAID funding
under the $7,000,000 grant allocation awarded on or about November 15,
2023, and associated with Federal Award Identification Number
720BHA24GR00005.
* All proposals, applications, scope of work documents, or
similar records related to any grant award or sub-award associated
with Federal Award Identification Number 720BHA24GR00005.

USAID has produced records
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but refuses to disclose what organizations received the money.

USAID justifies its secrecy
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as protecting trade secrets, financial information, and privacy:
(b)(4) Program design elements, technical approaches, detailed
implementation plans, and related financial information is business
confidential information. If released, the availability of this
information to the public will cause substantial harm to awardee’s
competitive position in the private voluntary organization community.

(b)(6) Parties to the conflict in Gaza have specifically targeted and
killed aid workers, targeted relief agency operations and targeted and
destroyed health facilities and other civilians targets. Due to highly
challenging and unpredictable operating environments for humanitarian
organizations, this exemption is required to protect the employees and
beneficiaries of the NGOs working in Gaza from harassment and
violence.

Disclosure of the name of the NGO would allow third‐parties to
determine the identities of the employees and beneficiaries.

(b)(6) Personal information to include names, job titles and emails
due to safety & security concerns
On November 15, 2023, the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, a
component of the USAID, issued a $7 million grant
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for
“multisectoral response in Gaza.” The grant was awarded to
“Miscellaneous Foreign Awardees.” The same day a “continuation
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grant of $20
million was also issued for “multisectoral response.” USAID
reported
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that over $282 million was obligated to the West Bank and Gaza in
fiscal year 2023.

President Trump recently fired
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Paul Martin, USAID inspector general, after he published a report that
was critical of the Trump administration’s pause on aid. It was
recently discovered that USAID provided “millions of dollars in
funding to extremist groups tied to designated terrorist organizations
and their allies, according to a report published by Middle East
Forum, a U.S. think tank.”

In July 2024, the Office of the Inspector General for USAID issued a
report
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titled “Assessment of USAID’s Oversight Policies to Prevent the
Diversion of Assistance to Hamas and Other Terrorist Organizations”
in which it states:

The USAID Office of Inspector General (USAID OIG) provides independent
oversight of USAID’s programs, operations, and personnel and has
previously identified
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USAID-funded assistance to Gaza as being at high risk for diversion
and misuse.
***
Regarding the UN’s processes for vetting their own staff, USAID
Administrator Samantha Power noted—following allegations that
officials working for UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency]
engaged in the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel—“obviously the
vetting is something that has to be significantly strengthened.”
Americans have a right to know who in Gaza is getting our money
from USAID. It is shocking that Marco Rubio’s State Department is
hiding this information. Transparency on USAID’s Gaza funding could
be critical to protecting the national security of the U.S. and
Israel.

We recently sued
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USAID for
records regarding waste, fraud and abuse tied to aid money sent to
Ukraine.

In 2018, we obtained State Department documents
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showing top Soros representatives in Romania collaborating with the
State Department in a program jointly funded by
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among others, Soros’s Open Society Foundations – Romania
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and USAID, called the
“Open Government Partnership
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Additional State Department records
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uncovered in 2018 showed USAID funding for George Soros’s left-wing
nonprofit organizations in Albania. The documents dealt primarily with
the activities of Soros’ top operative in Albania, Andri Dobrushi,
the director of Open Society Foundation-Albania, who was actively
engaged in channeling funding to what Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor
Orban calls Soros’ “mercenary army.” The documents showed U.S.
grant money flowing through non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that
profess to promote “civil society,” while in fact attacking
traditional, pro-American groups, governments and policies.

Other records
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related to the USAID’s activities in Albania showed that the Obama
administration sent U.S. taxpayers’ funds to a group backed by
Soros, which used the money to fund left-wing political activities in
Albania, including working with the country’s socialist government
to push for highly controversial judicial “reform.” The records
also detailed how the Soros operation helped the State Department
review grant applications from other groups for taxpayer funding.

JUDICIAL WATCH SUES FOR RECORDS ON WALZ’S CHINESE COMMUNIST
CONNECTIONS

On October 29, 2024, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer
said a Homeland Security whistleblower
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told the committee that Minnesota governor and 2024 Democrat vice
presidential candidate Tim Walz was a “target” of the Chinese
Communist Party as “someone they can get to DC.”

The whistleblower also disclosed “that officials from U.S.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Intelligence and
Analysis (I&A) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) have been
involved in the Department’s investigative and/or intelligence work
connected with the CCP, the state of Minnesota, and Governor Walz.”

To get to the bottom of this, we filed a Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) lawsuit
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against Homeland Security for records regarding Walz’s connections
to the Chinese Communist Party (_Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S.
Department of Homeland Security_
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_(No. 1:25-cv-00625)).

We sued after Homeland Security failed to respond to an October 29,
2024, FOIA request for:

> All documents and communications in the DHS Microsoft Teams group
> chat “NST NFT Bi-Weekly Sync” from July 1, 2024, to present,
> including all accompanying, uploaded, or imbedded attachments and
> documents, referring or relating to Minnesota Governor Timothy J.
> Walz (or the office and/or staff of Governor Walz)
>
> All Intelligence Information Reports and Regional Intelligence Notes
> (including these documents that have been titled or categorized
> differently) from November 1, 2023, to present related to Minnesota
> Governor Timothy J. Walz (or the office and/or staff of Governor
> Walz).
>
> All requests for assistance or referrals to other federal agencies
> regarding Minnesota Governor Timothy J. Walz
Quite simply, there is a massive cover-up of what the Deep State
knows about Tim Walz’s connections to the Chinese Communist Party.
Secretary Noem should quickly release any records in response to our
lawsuit.

DC POLICE DEPARTMENT WANTS $1.5 MILLION FOR JANUARY 6 BODYCAM FOOTAGE

The Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department wants to charge us
more than $1,570,500 for local police bodycam footage of the January 6
protests.

In June 2024 we filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit
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in the U.S.
District Court for the District of Columbia after the Metropolitan
Police Department denied an August 2021 FOIA request (_Judicial Watch
v. District of Columbia_
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(No. 2024-CAB-003453)).

We are asking for:

> All audio/video recordings captured on body-worn cameras from MPD
> officers during their response to protest activities in and around
> the Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021; and
>
> All body worn camera video captured by Washington, DC, Metropolitan
> Police Officer Michael Fanone when responding to protests at the
> Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021.
The DC Metro Police initially rejected our request because, it
claimed, the videos were, at the time, “part of an ongoing
investigation and criminal proceeding.”

But since President Trump's pardons of January 6 defendants, the DC
government will make public the videos (supposedly containing over one
thousand hours of footage) if we agree to pay over $1.5 million.

There never has been a legitimate reason to withhold the January 6
police bodycam videos. If they wanted the videos out for political
reasons, they’d be public, but instead the DC government wants more
than $1.5 million in order for the public to view its January 6
videos.

On January 20, President Trump issued pardons and a directive
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to the attorney general to “pursue dismissal with prejudice to the
government of pending indictments against individuals for their
conduct related to the events at or near the U.S. Capitol on January
6.”

We have extensively investigated the events of January 6.

A hearing
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was
recently held in the Fani Willis documents scandal regarding her
search for records of communications with Special Counsel Jack Smith
and the House January 6 Committee. Thanks to this lawsuit
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Willis
finally admitted to having records showing communications with the
January 6 Committee but refused to release
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all but one
document in response to the court order
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that found her
in default. She cited a series of legal exemptions to justify the
withholding of communications with the January 6 Committee. The only
document she did release is one already public letter to January 6
Committee Chairman Benny Thompson (D-MS).

A trial date
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is currently set for July 20, 2026, in the $30 million wrongful death
lawsuit we filed on behalf of the estate and the family of Ashli
Babbitt, who was shot and killed in the U.S. Capitol on January 6,
2021, by then-Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd.

In April 2024, we received records
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from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in a FOIA lawsuit, showing
that the FBI opened a criminal investigation of Babbitt after her
killing and listed four “potential violations of federal law,”
including felony rioting and civil disorder.

In January 2024, we filed a FOIA lawsuit
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on
behalf of Aaron Babbitt and the Ashli Babbitt Estate against the U.S.
Department of Justice for all FBI files on Ashli Babbitt.

In July 2024, we sued
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the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) for all records related to any shots fired
inside the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021, and records of
requests for CIA support including bomb technicians and bomb-detecting
dogs placed on standby or used in response to the massive protests in
and around Washington, DC.

In September 2023, we received records
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from
the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, a component of the
Department of Justice, in a FOIA lawsuit that detailed the extensive
apparatus the Biden Justice Department set up to investigate and
prosecute January 6 protestors.

A previous review of records
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from that lawsuit highlighted the prosecution declination memorandum
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documenting the decision not to prosecute U.S. Capitol Police Lt.
Michael Byrd for the shooting death of Babbitt.

In October 2023, we received
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the court-ordered
declaration
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of James W. Joyce, senior counsel in the Office of the General Counsel
for the Capitol Police, in which he describes emails among senior
officials of the United States Capitol Police (USCP) in January 2021
that show warnings of possible January 6 protests that could lead to
serious disruptions at the U.S. Capitol.

In January 2023, documents
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from the Department of the Air Force, Joint Base Andrews, MD, showed
U.S. Capitol Police Lieutenant Michael Byrd was housed at taxpayer
expense at Joint Base Andrews after he shot and killed U.S. Air Force
veteran Ashli Babbitt inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

In November 2021, we released
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multiple audio
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visual
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and photo records
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from the DC Metropolitan Police Department about the shooting death of
Babbitt on January 6, 2021, in the U.S. Capitol Building. The records
included a cell phone video
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of the shooting and an audio of a brief police interview of the
shooter, Byrd.

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION CONSIDERED USING FEDERAL LANDS FOR ABORTIONS,
FUNDED PROTECTION AGAINST ‘GRAVE HEALTH THREATS’ FROM CLIMATE
CHANGE

The values of the Biden administration were not those of most American
people.

We received 115 pages
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in a Freedom of Information (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) showing the Biden administration,
following the _Dobbs_ decision, which overturned _Roe v. Wade_,
considered declaring a “public health emergency” and using federal
lands to provide abortion services.

The records also show that millions of taxpayer dollars were used to
establish an office to protect against “grave health threats”
allegedly caused by climate change, and for facilitating
then-Assistant Secretary Rachel Levine’s extreme focus on LGBT and
“gender-affirming” health care.

On June 30, 2024, media reports
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indicated Levine rejected the suggestion of the World Professional
Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) that an age limit of 14 be
placed on those seeking gender-altering medical procedures.

We filed the lawsuit
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in
the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after Health and
Human Services failed to respond to a July 2024, FOIA request for the
records of Levine and other officials regarding the removal of the
minimum age for the treatment of children in the World Professional
Association for Transgender Health’s (WPATH) 2022 standards of care
(_Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services_
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_(No. 1:24-cv-02588)).

The records include a “Briefing Memo for Assistant Secretary Admiral
Levine
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which contains talking points prepared by staff for Levine’s July
19, 2022, meeting with Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) to “provide an
update on OASH’s [Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health] work
in shared areas of interest,” including:

* Reproductive health access, including Title X
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* LGBTQI+ (especially youth mental health …)
* Long Covid …
* Commissioned Corps
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* OCCHE (Office of Climate Change and Health Equity)

A section of the briefing memo titled “Public Health Emergency
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asks if an official public health emergency will be declared, and a
prepared answer includes: “The Biden-Harris Administration is never
going to stop fighting to protect access to abortion care.”

The following question is: “What did the President mean when he said
he directed his team to look into whether he has the authority to
declare a public health emergency? You haven't actually done that yet?
Is it still under consideration? And you said everything is on the
table - what about federal lands?”

The prepared answer is:

> The team has been evaluating every option – including a public
> health emergency. When we looked at declaring a public health
> emergency, we learned a couple things. One is that it doesn’t free
> very many resources. For example, what’s in the public health
> emergency fund, there’s very little money – tens of thousands of
> dollars in it….
In a section titled “Federal Lands” a question is posed: “What
is the Administration thinking in regards to using federal lands to
provide abortion access?” The answer includes: “As I have
continued to say, we’re exploring many options. However, we at HHS
[Health and Human Services] are not experts on public lands.”

A section in the briefing memo
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dedicated to OCCHE [Office of Climate Change and Health Equity] states
that its mission “is to protect the U.S. population from the grave
health threats posed by climate change.”

Talking points address the office’s accomplishments in its first 10
months and discuss a multi-agency $206 million budget allocation for
fiscal year 2022:

> _Internationally_: By making commitments to community and health
> system resilience and decarbonization in our health systems, we not
> only have provided global leadership in climate change and health
> but also signaled domestically the direction the US health system is
> heading in these areas.
>
> _Intergovernmental_: Launched the Biden Administration’s
> Interagency Working Group on Extreme Heat, which coordinates that
> national response to extreme heat. Extreme heat kills more Americans
> than any other weather-related disaster.

***

> Launched a federal health systems learning network on
> decarbonization and resilience [including the Veteran’s
> Administration, Department of Defense, and Indian Health Service].
>
> _Within HHS _[Health and Human Services]: Has mobilized every HHS
> OpDiv [Operating Division] to create climate health and equity
> strategies that they are beginning to implement.

***

> One of OCCHE’s [Office of Climate Change and Health Equity] key
> priorities is health sector decarbonization and resilience.

***

> The Office is also committed to a suite of activities to build
> climate literacy within the health sector workforce. This includes
> ongoing collaboration with climate change and health physician
> fellowships at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health.

***

> On May 31st, an Office of Environmental Justice was established
> under OCCHE [Office of Climate Change and Health Equity] to better
> protect the health of disadvantaged communities and vulnerable
> populations on the frontlines of pollution and other environmental
> health issues.

***

> The Fiscal Year 2022 budget also included $6 million in evaluation
> funding to create the OCCHE [Office of Climate Change and Health
> Equity] and $100 million each to NIH [National Institutes of Health]
> and CDC [Centers for Disease Control] to invest in climate and
> health research and adaptation.”
The records contain an agenda
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for Levine’s June 26-29, 2022, trip to Florida, including:

* A “Trans and non-binary youth event” in Orlando.
* An appearance and photo-op at the Pulse nightclub
memorial site in Orlando.
* A meeting at Borinquen Health Care Center in Miami to
advocate for children under age 5 to receive the Covid vaccine.
* A meeting with Miami’s “Heat Officer” Jane
Gilbert, who the agenda describes as “the first position like it in
the world” (to coordinate heat protection efforts for vulnerable
communities
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* A gender affirming care trans health roundtable.
* A meeting and lunch with officers of the “Take VA
Pride Event” in Miami (an event hosted by the Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) specifically designed to celebrate and support LGBTQ+
veterans).

A briefing memo
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for Levine’s June 29, 2022, appearance at a “Trans Health
Roundtable” held at The Miami Foundation states:

> HHS [Health and Human Services] is committed to using every tool in
> our toolbox to ensure health equity for all. This includes actions
> like NIH [National Institutes for Health] increasing funding on
> gender-affirming procedures to further develop the evidence base for
> improved standards of care. SAMSHA [Substance Abuse and Mental
> Health Services Administration] is advancing research addressing the
> harms of conversion therapy. HHS expanding access to
> gender-affirming care as an essential health benefit.
Admiral Levine and the Biden administration were obsessed with
promoting the transgender extremist mutilation of children. The
Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and, quite frankly, law
enforcement, should do a thorough scan of what Levine was up to.

Until next week,



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